Truden: No decision yet

With a week remaining before she must make a decision, District Attorney Colleen Truden said she is still considering whether she will protest a recall petition against her.”We’re still just in the process of evaluating the options and signatures, that sort of thing,” Truden said Friday.She declined to say whether she was leaning one way or another in her decision.Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis ruled Sept. 29 that the recall petition was sufficient.Petition organizers gathered 9,032 signatures, of which Dennis rejected 2,406 and deemed 6,626 to be valid. They needed 5,455 valid signatures from registered voters in Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties to force a recall election. Truden is district attorney for the 9th Judicial District, which is composed of the three counties.Truden has until Oct. 14 to protest the petition. A protest could focus on the signatures’ validity or the process under which they were collected.A hearing on a protest would have to be scheduled within five to 10 days after the secretary of state’s office mails the hearing notice. If the protest is unsuccessful, Gov. Bill Owens would have to set an election within 45 to 75 days.Recall leaders say Truden has been dishonest, mismanaged her office and failed to prosecute cases. She says the recall effort is “petty partisan politics.”